Reliance Viacom-18 and Disney Star India have now become one. This also includes Disney Hotstar and Jio Cinema. Both these companies announced this on Thursday, November 14. After this merger, it has become the largest entertainment network in the country.
Disney-Reliance Entertainment now has 75 crore viewers with 2 Over the Top i.e., OTT and 120 channels. Reliance has invested Rs 11,500 crore for this joint venture. The merger process has been going on for the last one year.
Both the companies said – ‘This deal has been done for Rs 70,352 crore. Reliance will have 63.16% and Disney will have a 36.84% stake in the company formed after the merger. The chairperson of this new company will be Nita Ambani. The vice chairperson will be Uday Shankar. They will give strategic guidance to the company.
Three CEOs will lead the business of Reliance-Disney Merger
Three CEOs will lead this joint venture. All three will take charge of different verticals. Kevin Vaz will head the entertainment organization. Kiran Mani will take charge of the digital organization. Sanjog Gupta will lead the sports organization.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said, ‘With this joint venture, the Indian media and entertainment industry is entering a transformational era. I am very excited about the future of the joint venture and wish it a success.’
The joint venture has 2 digital platforms
In this mega-merger, 80 channels of Disney Star and 40 channels of Reliance Viacom18 will be added. That is, there will be a total of 120 channels. However, some of these channels can be closed. Both also have OTT apps – Disney Hotstar and Jio Cinema.
Viacom 18 also has TV rights for BCCI-managed cricket matches, while Disney Star has TV rights to broadcast IPL till 2027. At the same time, Reliance has the rights to show IPL on its OTT platform Jio Cinema.
Reliance’s news channels will not be part of this deal, as they come under the Network 18 Group. The joint venture will also be given exclusive rights to distribute Disney films and productions in India along with licenses to more than 30,000 Disney content assets.
- This joint venture had a revenue of ₹ 26,000 crore in FY 2024.
- The joint venture produces 30,000+ hours of TV content annually.
- JioCinema and Hotstar digital platforms have 5 crore subscribers.
The name of the new OTT app can be Jio Star
Reliance has also registered a domain named JioStar.com before the merger. In the coming days, Jio Cinema and Hotstar apps can be combined, which will be named JioStar. However, the company has not officially given information about this.
Market Cap of Reliance is more than 17 lakh crores
Reliance is one of the largest private sector companies in India. Its market cap is 17,15,498.91 crores. Reliance currently works in hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, advanced materials and composites, renewable energy (solar and hydrogen), digital services, and retail sectors.
